It is generally known to eject various types of space flying bodies from spacecraft, such as a space transport vehicle (e.g. the US Space Shuttle), a space station (e.g. the International Space Station-ISS), a space capsule or the like. In order to simultaneously eject and spin-stabilize the space flying body, a drive arrangement provided in the spacecraft simultaneously imposes a rotation motion and a translation motion onto the space flying body, which is thereby ejected from the spacecraft. It is generally also known to provide means for holding and for guiding the body to be ejected, relative to the spacecraft.
There is a need for ejecting spin-stabilized bodies from spacecraft in various contexts, for example as follows. In order to return test sample materials and the like from a space station (for example the International Space Station ISS) back to earth, essentially the only practical means presently available are space transport vehicles such as the US Space Shuttle. Such space transporters are also used for supply flights from the earth to the ISS, but rockets such as the ARIANE Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Russian Progress Capsule can alternatively be used for such supply flights.
Through a further development or expansion of the ATV or the Progress Capsule with a payload return or retrieval container, this provides a further possibility of transporting test sample materials or the like from a spacecraft back to earth, without relying on the Space Shuttle. In this regard, the payload return or retrieval container is installed through the loading hatch into the payload bay of the ATV or the Progress Capsule. After the ATV or Progress Capsule has completed its mission, but before it reenters the earth's atmosphere and burns up, the payload return container is ejected from the payload bay of the spacecraft (ATV or Progress Capsule). The container itself is equipped with a heat shield so that it can reenter the earth's atmosphere and return to earth safely and undamaged.
Such a payload return or retrieval container shall be adapted to return to earth test sample materials or other payloads having a mass up to 360 kilograms. In order to reliably eject such a container out of the transport vehicle or other spacecraft for its return to earth, it is necessary to provide an ejection apparatus that is able to impose on the container a translational or linear velocity on the order of magnitude of approximately 1 m/s. Furthermore, the ejection apparatus must be able to impose a suitable rotational moment on the container about its longitudinal axis, for spin-stabilizing the container.
In the past, a series of different ejection apparatus for ejecting space flying bodies from satellites have been developed. For example, apparatus have been developed for use in so-called spy satellites for the ejection of return capsules carrying exposed film material back to earth. In such applications, the flying bodies to be ejected had relatively small mass and dimensions. Other ejection systems have been developed for the ejection of rotation-axis-stabilized or spin-stabilized communication satellites or miniature satellites from the Space Shuttle. Such communication satellites are space flying bodies having significantly larger dimensions, for example with diameters larger than 2.5 meters and with a comparatively high mass. On the other hand, such so-called miniature satellites are flying bodies having smaller dimensions and accordingly a smaller mass. Similar ejection apparatus have been developed for re-entry capsules having dimensions in a middle range between those of communication satellites and miniature satellites.
The known ejection systems include mechanisms for rotating the flying body to impose a spin stabilization, and accelerating the flying body to impose a translation motion on the flying body. Such apparatus are installed in an ejection bay or tube, and include motors, spring-operated pressure devices, and/or explosive devices, for example. All of the above described conventional ejection systems have a substantial disadvantage of a relatively high weight and a complex construction. This complexity leads to malfunctions or breakdowns that jeopardize the operational reliability of the systems.